After browsing for weeks and experiencing (probably RAW related) Clonecd problems I am still not quite sure about 12101B's capabilities, but it seems RAW mode for the 12101B is only supported after LS22, so I read somewhere. CloneCD and burnproof related problems can only be solved by turning burnproof off, which is mandatory according to Clonecd's info and thus not a matter of firmware.

By the way, it seems odd to me newer writers are not capable of doing RAW, text or BP, so I doubt the list on http://www.vob.de/Devices/RecorderL.htm is entirely correct, although this info pops up on more sites.

The 12101B drive is only capable of operating in PIO4 DMA2 mode as far as I know, and the 'UDMA-2 option' only goes for the 16-speed, according to the web site. Probably no firmware is gonna change this for the 12101B, but I doubt its performance would increase (as for most cd/cdrw drives). It would only be useful when combining them with UDMA-2 harddisks, I guess.

The latest 12101B firmware before the LS3G23 seems to be 3D, but it looks as it only appears in shipped versions and can't be found in a downloadable form (correct me if I'm wrong). The previous downloadable version 38/22 (LS3822) disappeared from Lite-on's site but can still be found at ZDnet in Germany on http://www.zdnet.de/treiber/hs_prd/liteon_cdrec-wc.html.